News and notes from each week of NASCAR racing using a Las Vegas oddsmaking perspective

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Almirola wins rain shortened Coke Zero 400 for first career victory

Aric Almirola paid out at 60/1 to win Coke Zero 400

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Aric Almirola won Sunday's rain-shortened, crash-filled Coke Zero 400. He made history with not only his first career win but a victory in the famed No. 43 car, the same number that his car owner Richard Petty drove to his record 200th and final victory in this event 30 years ago.

Almirola was leading when the race was stopped on Lap 112 because of rain. After trying to dry the track for close to an hour, NASCAR decided enough was enough. It declared the race official, ending a frustrating weekend for many but a glorious one for Almirola and Richard Petty Motorsports at Daytona International Speedway.

The race was deemed official because it was well beyond the halfway mark of Lap 80. When the rain forced the red flag on Lap 112, it wasn't a foregone conclusion that it would cause NASCAR to call the race.

But NASCAR was unwilling to spend three hours in a delay as storms pelted the track. The race was postponed Saturday night because of rain, and then it was stopped twice earlier Sunday. Once was because of rain; the other for a wild crash in which Kyle Busch ended upside-down but uninjured and most of the field was involved.